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 S69You Need to See Jupiter and Saturn Pose with the Harvest Supermoon This Weekend   September’s Harvest Moon will shine in the night sky this weekend, with special guest appearances by our Solar System’s gas giants.Since July, the full Moon has looked a little bit bigger and brighter than usual, thanks to a quirk of timing that had the Moon turning full at about the same time its orbit passed closest to Earth. Skywatchers call this cool coincidence a supermoon, and the late summer of 2023 has given us three of them in a row. September’s full Moon is set to end the series in style this weekend. The full harvest Moon will rise on Friday evening at around 6:30 EDT and shine through the night.
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S2How to Be a Better Leader Amid Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity  More than three decades ago, the U.S. Army War College developed a framework for understanding how leaders succeed during times of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The framework, known as VUCA, has been widely discussed and adopted since, but it turns out to be better at describing what successful leaders do than teaching all leaders how to succeed. The authors present an updated approach that has generated positive outcomes in military, business, and sports contexts.
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S3Can Victoria's Secret fix its image?  Five minutes into the new Amazon Prime film, Victoria’s Secret: The Tour ’23, the 28-year-old supermodel Gigi Hadid laughs sweetly into the camera. Then she says the f-word. It's a surprising move from the mass-market brand, which turned lingerie from a French luxury into an all-American staple when it became a popular mall store in the 1980s. With its shiny pink shopping bags and velvet-lined dressing rooms, Victoria's Secret was a staple for bras and underwear that lured millions of US women by making sexy lingerie as accessible as a pair of blue jeans. As Victoria's Secret became a rite of passage for teen shoppers buying their first "grown-up" bras, its models – era-defining bombshells like Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen – became household names, too. In 1998, the label capitalised on their friendly-but-glamorous appeal with the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, a televised catwalk event that turned mere models into "Angels" with push-up bras, stilettos, and massive feathered wings. At its peak in the mid-2000s, the annual show was so popular that it earned its own Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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S4The first dog-fox hybrid points to the growing risk to wild animals of domestic species  Jacqueline Boyd is affiliated with The Kennel Club (UK) through membership, as Chair of the Activities Health and Welfare Subgroup and member of the Dog Health Group. Jacqueline also writes, consults and coaches on canine matters on an independent basis in addition to her academic affiliation.Next time you see a fox when out walking with your dog, pause for a moment and ponder their relatedness. Dogs and foxes are distinct but distantly related canine species.
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S5Why so many women in Spain are choosing to donate their eggs - The Conversation Weekly podcast  Spanish women are having fewer and fewer children, and yet the country has become the egg donation capital of Europe. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we find out about the experiences of women who decide to donate their eggs, and whether there are enough protections in place to prevent them from being exploited.Over the past 20 years, the number of egg donation cycles in Europe has been steadily increasing, reaching more than 80,000 in 2018. Around half of these take place in Spain, which has positioned itself as Europe’s go-to destination for people seeking donated eggs.
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S6American Climate Corps: Biden's new green jobs initiative delivers more promises than details  When President Joe Biden created the American Climate Corps by executive order on Sept. 20, 2023, it marked a step toward keeping a pledge he made nearly three years earlier: to create a new workforce training and service program to deal with global warming.The White House promises that the corps “will ensure more young people have access to the skills-based training necessary for good-paying careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy.” By helping Americans get entry-level green jobs, such as solar panel installation and home insulation, it will equip thousands more young Americans to tackle the complex challenges posed by climate change.
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S7S8A solution to America's K-12 STEM teacher shortage: Endowed chairs  Gerard Robinson is affiliated with https://www.tepf.org/#leadership. I joined the endowment project a few months ago. Our goal it to help public high schools create an endowment for the school. My idea of supporting an endowed K-12 chair preceeded my joining the board. I do not receive a salary for my board membership. Ever since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957, America has been struggling to recruit and retain STEM teachers in its public middle and high schools.
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S9S10Your microbes live on after you die - a microbiologist explains how your necrobiome recycles your body to nourish new life  Each human body contains a complex community of trillions of microorganisms that are important for your health while you’re alive. These microbial symbionts help you digest food, produce essential vitamins, protect you from infection and serve many other critical functions. In turn, the microbes, which are mostly concentrated in your gut, get to live in a relatively stable, warm environment with a steady supply of food.As an environmental microbiologist who studies the necrobiome – the microbes that live in, on and around a decomposing body – I’ve been curious about our postmortem microbial legacy. You might assume that your microbes die with you – once your body breaks down and your microbes are flushed into the environment, they won’t survive out in the real world.
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S11Sea glass, a treasure formed from trash, is on the decline as single-use plastic takes over  When you stroll along a beach, you may look down and spot colorful bits of worn glass mixed in with the sand. But the little treasures you’ve found actually began as discarded trash. As an environmental science professor, I find these gifts from the sea particularly interesting. I have analyzed sand from across the world and added samples, including one of sea glass, into a collection for the environmental, earth and atmospheric sciences at UMass Lowell. The way this trash-turned-treasure washes up on beaches reflects an intersection between human activity and Earth’s natural processes.
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S12Juries that don't understand forensic science can send innocent people to prison - a short training video could help  Ledura Watkins was 19 years old when he was accused of murdering a public school teacher. At trial, a forensic expert testified that a single hair found at the scene was similar to Watkins’ and stated his conclusion was based on “reasonable scientific certainty.” He explained that he’d conducted thousands of hair analyses and “had never been wrong.”This one hair was the only physical evidence tying Watkins to the crime. In 1976, Ledura Watkins was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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S13S14Government shutdowns hurt federal worker morale, long after paychecks resume - especially for those considered 'nonessential'  This means that approximately 2.2 million civilian federal employees would be furloughed and face delayed paychecks and lost work hours – in addition to 3.7 million federal contractors who would also be forced to stop working and forgo their pay. Shutdowns lead to more people being more likely to leave government employment – and higher workloads and lower motivation for those who remain. These conditions may feed Republican political goals, but they harm the millions of Americans who depend on competent, timely assistance from the public servants on the government payroll. This ultimately leads to lower work performance and employee retention problems.
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S15S16The UN and the multilateral system are in crisis - what the Global South must do  Co-fundador com Mônica Herz do projeto MUDRAL (Multilateralismo e Direita Radical na América Latina), Pesquisador no Centre d'Études Sociologiques et Politiques Raymond Aron (CESPRA), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) The planet is on fire, but almost all the firefighters have deserted. At the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, which began on September 19 in New York, the leaders of four of the five permanent members of the Security Council – the UN’s most powerful executive body – were absent.
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S17Akan folklore contains ancient wisdom that could benefit Ghana's western-style education system  Philosophies of education serve as frameworks for producing lifelong learners and a knowledgeable and skilled human workforce who develop their societies. Ghana’s education system currently favours a western educational philosophy, relegating its indigenous philosophies to the back burner.I am an academic in the field of curriculum studies. In a recent paper, I argue that education in Ghana needs to incorporate more elements based on an authentic Ghanaian framework. Based on the view that education, culture and development should be connected, I highlight the educational strengths of African folklore.
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S18S19S20Residential school deaths are significantly higher than previously reported  Over the past year I have worked at University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ) as the Indian Residential School Coordinator. There, I spent time speaking with survivors of Indian Residential Schools and I also helped conduct a search for grave sites of missing children.Listening to the truths of residential school survivors was a stark reminder that we need to continue educating people about what happened at these schools, both for Indigenous and non-Indigenous folks. I also learned and reflected on the mortality at Indian Residential Schools across Canada.
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S21I'm a microbiologist and here's what (and where) I never eat  Every year, around 2.4 million people in the UK get food poisoning – mostly from viral or bacterial contamination. Most people recover within a few days without treatment, but not all are that lucky.As a microbiologist, I’m probably more acutely aware of the risk of food-borne infections than most. Here are some of the things I look out for.
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S22Ukraine war: Putin avoids further mobilisation while Kyiv suffers manpower shortage  When Vladimir Putin called for a partial mobilisation in September 2022 it was a sign to ordinary Russians that – despite all the Kremlin’s denials – this was no longer a “special military operation” but a real war.In response to Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive which recaptured swaths of territory from Russia, Putin called up around 300,000 men – around 1% of the eligible pool of reservists.
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S23Virtual reality can help emergency services navigate the complexities of real-life crises  The UK has experienced several terrorist attacks, from the 2005 London bombings, to the devastating events at Manchester Arena and London Bridge in 2017. These tragic incidents not only resulted in the loss of innocent lives but were also immensely challenging for emergency response teams.Each of these events required coordination between several different emergency services: the police, fire services and medical teams. Combining expertise across emergency response teams is extremely demanding.
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S24Face pareidolia: how pregnant women could help us understand why we see faces in inanimate objects  Sometimes we see faces that aren’t really there. You may be looking at the front of a car or a burnt piece of toast when you notice a face-like pattern. This is called face pareidolia and is a mistake made by the brain’s face detection system. But it’s an error that can help us understand the workings of the human mind. Arecent study has argued that having a baby may affect this aspect of our brains, suggesting it may vary across our lifetimes.
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S25How community gardening could ease your climate concerns  Every day, we are bombarded with messages about a world in crisis. Alongside the ongoing reminders of wars, economic recessions and social unrest is news about natural disasters and extreme weather – be that prolonged droughts, freak heatwaves and wildfires or devastating floods and landslides. It’s possible that our growing awareness of climate issues may arise from the overreporting of negative news in a media-fuelled and hyperglobalised world. But what’s happening to our environment also appears unprecedented. Global sea levels rose two-and-a-half times faster between 2006 and 2016 than they did throughout nearly the whole 20th century, and climate-related disasters have tripled over the past three decades.
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S26S27The surprisingly punk fashion of the Bloomsbury set, including Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell  Charleston was once the home and studio of the painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and a gathering space for the artists and writers who came to be known as “the Bloomsbury set”, including Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey.First, menswear designer Kim Jones transposes the works and designs of artist Duncan Grant into prints and patterns for his Dior summer 2023 collection. Jones’s hand-knitted rendering of Grant’s design for a fire curtain at Sadler’s Wells Theatre (1930) brings out all the campness of the artist, playfully reinterpreting the language of cubism to become kitsch.
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S28The UK has relatively few armed police - but their specialist squads are hotbeds of 'warrior culture'  When unarmed black Briton Chris Kaba was killed by a single shot from a London Metropolitan police officer in September 2022, his family and communities of colour demanded answers. A year later, they have the beginnings of one – the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was charging an officer with murder. In response, over 100 armed Met officers voluntarily stood down from firearms duties, suggesting they were alarmed by the decision to prosecute one of their own. Armed police are relatively rare in the UK. Just 4% of the 142,526 officers in England and Wales are armed (compared to all 708,000 in the US). In England and Wales only 6,677 officers are authorised to carry firearms.
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S29S30Slovakia may be about to elect a government which plans to halt aid to Kyiv  Slovakians head to the polls on September 30 to elect a new parliament. The result will not only have a huge impact on the domestic affairs of this small central European state but also, beyond its borders, on the balance of power in Europe and the war in Ukraine.After the outbreak of the illegal Russian war in Ukraine, Slovakia was one of the first states to offer support to its neighbour. Slovakians warmly welcomed Ukrainian refugees and its coalition governments have staunchly maintained political, economic and military aid for Kyiv.
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S31Ukraine recap: Ukraine and allies maintain optimism despite slow progress on the battlefield  At a press conference after talks with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, this afternoon, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg sounded like a man determined to take a “glass half full” attitude when he said that “every metre that Ukrainian forces regain is a metre that Russia loses”. His statement, if a bit obvious, showed commendable optimism. Reports from the frontlines in Ukraine have been mixed over the past few months, with nothing like the lightning-fast territorial gains made by Ukraine in its late summer offensive last year, when it liberated vast swathes of territory occupied by Russia. Some of this was retaken only days after it had been declared part of the motherland by Vladimir Putin, who annexed four regions in the east and south on September 30 – only to hear that quite a lot of these regions were now Ukrainian soil once again.
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S32S33Temporary carbon storage in forests has climate value -- but we need to get the accounting right  Forests and other natural carbon reservoirs play an important role in slowing and potentially reversing the effects of climate change. But any carbon stored in nature is vulnerable to either natural or human-caused disturbances. This is one reason why offsetting fossil fuel emissions with natural carbon storage is problematic. If the carbon is lost to the atmosphere, then the offset potential is also negated after it has already been claimed and accounted for.
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S34Shutdowns are a uniquely American drama - in the UK, it's just not Parliament's cup of tea  Save for a last-minute spending deal in Congress on Oct. 1, 2023, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed and the business of government will grind to a halt. By some accounts, it would be the 22nd time since 1976 that the U.S. has had to deal with this political paralysis. But it doesn’t have to be like this – and in most countries it isn’t. Other Western democracies experience polarization and political turmoil, too, yet do not experience this problem. Take for example the U.K., traditionally one of Washington’s closest allies and home to the “mother of parliaments.”
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S35A search for links between two of the universe's most spectacular phenomena has come up empty - for now  Every so often, astronomers glimpse an intense flash of radio waves from space – a flash that lasts only instants but puts out as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun does in a few years. The origin of these “fast radio bursts” is one of the greatest mysteries in astronomy today. There is no shortage of ideas to explain the cause of the bursts: a catalogue of current theories shows more than 50 potential scenarios. You can take your pick from highly magnetised neutron stars, collisions of incredibly dense stars or many more extreme or exotic phenomena.
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S36S37Lions to roar or Magpies to soar? It's a remarkable revival story either way on grand final day  Saturday’s premiership tussle between Collingwood and Brisbane features the two top-ranked teams from 2023. Hopefully, unlike last year’s final, it will be a gripping match. The 2023 finals series has so far featured edge-of-the-seat contests, as reflected in media audiences: some 13.3 million eyeballs tuning in, at an average of 1.66 million per game.Perhaps most importantly, after lean years during COVID, there has also been bountiful spectator interest this season. The finals matches have attracted an average of 70,595 fans, with an expected 100,000 set to attend on Saturday.
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S38S39S40Education for reconciliation requires us to 'know where we are'  On a sunny morning in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton) last October, more than 100 university students, the two of us and other university instructors gathered near the banks of kisiskâciwan-sîpî (North Saskatchewan River) in the Riverdale neighbourhood. Joining our group were Cree Elder Phillip Campiou, a cultural knowledge keeper, and members of the Riverdale Community League Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
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S41Mapping unmarked graves: Why the Mohawk Mothers are fighting McGill University  A Québec superior court recently ruled that excavation can continue on certain parts of the site of Montréal’s former Royal Victoria Hospital. The ruling comes after a group of Indigenous women known as the Mohawk Mothers called for an emergency court hearing to halt excavations at the site.The Mothers called for the hearing after McGill University and the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures (SQI) disbanded the court-appointed panel of Indigenous archaeologists that was set up under a settlement agreement and started construction on certain parts of the former Royal Victoria Hospital site.
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S42S43S44S45S46S47The disability royal commission recommendations could fix some of the worst living conditions - but that's just the start  The bite mark on Ashlee’s cheek, her broken teeth and other photos of injuries from assaults in disability housing are some of the haunting images emerging from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. It’s hard to fathom how someone could commit these brutal crimes, let alone how they were not stopped or reported by a registered National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provider. After more than four years and many traumatic stories, the disability royal commission’s final report was released this morning. Included in its 6,845 pages are 222 recommendations.
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S48The New Yorker Launches Critics at Large, a New Culture Podcast  Critics have been at large at The New Yorker since the magazine was founded. The first issue, published in 1925, featured reviews of theatre, music, and books, including a new novel by Aldous Huxley. Pauline Kael, in her tenure as a New Yorker film critic, famously defended “Bonnie and Clyde” and opined passionately on “A Clockwork Orange.” Brendan Gill, who wrote about theatre, books, and architecture for more than sixty years, was described by John Updike as “avidly alert to the power of art in general.”Now the magazine is bringing its storied critics section to a new form: the podcast. On Critics at Large, a weekly arts-and-culture show, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz come together to discuss everything from classic texts to new obsessions. In lively and incisive conversations, the critics exchange hot takes and long-simmering theories. Analyzing books, film, theatre, television, and pop culture, the show makes thematic connections across genre, medium, and history—from Salman Rushdie to “The Real Housewives”—to help the culturally curious make sense of the art of today.
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S49The Latino Question at the Second Republican Debate  It is often said that Ronald Reagan could not have reached the White House without Latinos. In November of 1980, the former governor of California, who is credited with coining the phrase “Latinos are Republican, they just don’t know it yet,” flipped New York, Texas, and Florida, with a coalition that included sizable numbers of Mexican voters and an overwhelming majority of Cuban Americans. His campaign understood how to command the attention—and respect—of Latino communities, portraying Reagan, in TV and radio ads, as a conservative family man. Reagan also took a moderate stance on immigration, advocating for more humane policies at the border and against the building of a wall, veering away from his party’s most extreme voices. “All America,” he declared in 1988, “is becoming ever more aware of the contributions that Hispanics have made to American life, American culture, and America’s destiny.”More than three decades later, it seems unclear what message, if any, the candidates vying for the Republican nomination hope to articulate to Latinos. At a debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, in Southern California, on Wednesday night, former Vice-President Mike Pence touted his “commitment to the conservative agenda that Ronald Reagan brought forward.” Republicans, he added, faced a choice—whether to “stand on the foundation of that conservative agenda” or “follow the siren song of populism.” Yet, from the moment the debate started, it became apparent that the choice had been made. Nikki Haley called for a military intervention in Mexico aimed to combat drug cartels (a now mainstream idea within the Republican Party); Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and to “seal the Swiss cheese of the southern border.” Donald Trump was not present, but there seemed to be a consensus among the other candidates to finish the border wall.
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S50Republican Debate Opus No. 2  Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff.By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
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S51Telltale Signs That Spooky Season Is Here  A spider will descend from the ceiling on a single thread. His eyes are red, but they are kind. Could he be your friend? (The answer is yes! During spooky season, spiders will be excited to make plans.)You’ll see werewolves in cozy, cable-knit sweaters huddling around a campfire, laughing. When one werewolf closes his eyes and starts singing “Thriller,” others join him, and soon each and every werewolf’s voice is united in song.
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S52Hulu Just Quietly Released the Best Superhero Show of the Year  A clever K-drama is the perfect cure for the new age of superhero nihilism ushered in by The Boys.To say that superheroes are “in” right now might be the understatement of the decade. Marvel’s cinematic universe has dominated Hollywood for 15 years, and though its influence is finally starting to wane, its rivals have had plenty of time to curate a counterculture. The age of straight-laced heroes may be nearing its end, but shows like Watchmen, The Boys, and Invincible are finding just as much success by using supes to deconstruct the realities of power and abuse.
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S53The Most Unique Sci-Fi Movie of 2023 Has a Surprising Star Wars Connection  The Creator production designer talks techniques he brought from Star Wars, and how the movie is doing something totally new.Partially inspired by Vietnam War movies like Apocalypse Now, The Creator riffs on a classic sci-fi concept: What if robots were an oppressed underclass? Comparisons to Star Wars are unavoidable. In addition to being a sci-fi tale about a ragtag rebel group battling imperial forces (in this case the US military), The Creator counts several Star Wars alumni among its creative team. Director Gareth Edwards helmed Rogue One, reuniting with screenwriter Chris Weitz and cinematographer Greig Fraser. Meanwhile production designer James Clyne held senior VFX and design roles on the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Solo: A Star Wars Story, following numerous concept art credits on films like Avatar and Alita: Battle Angel.
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S549 Pressing Questions 'Ahsoka' Still Needs to Answer in Episode 8  After seven space-centric weeks, only one episode of Ahsoka remains. It’s been a wild ride full of intrigue, excitement, and Easter eggs, but the series still has several threads to resolve before the final credits roll. While we know these characters could go on to play a role in Dave Filoni’s live-action Star Wars film, Ahsoka can’t leave every mystery unexplored. As Ahsoka gears up to face Grand Admiral Thrawn, there are nine big questions the series must answer in its final episode.In Ahsoka’s latest episode, Thrawn seemed content with the results of his first battle with Ahsoka and Ezra. Of course, it wasn’t much of a battle, but Thrawn was simply stalling to transfer precious cargo from the Peridean catacombs to his ship, the Chimaera. Whatever’s lurking in those crates, it must be pretty darn important to delay his escape from exile. It might even hold the key to Thrawn’s master plan, the one that could see him reconquer the galaxy in the Empire’s name.
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S55The Most Powerful Home on the Block  Homes that create and store their own energy are cheaper, safer, and could save the neighbors in times of disaster. They’re also a lot closer than you might think.This February, Texans encountered a troublingly familiar wintertime blight. Ice storms across the South felled trees and snapped power lines, bringing the state’s electricity grid to its knees. For the second time in three years, winter blackouts left hundreds of thousands of residents sitting through sub-freezing temperatures without power.
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S56Xbox Game Pass Just Quietly Released the Most Gorgeous Sci-Fi Platformer of the Decade  A soaring synth score. A needle plunged into a monstrous eye. A swirl of pink filling your view.Solar Ash knows how to build a dramatic moment. At the end of each of its stages — open-world areas filled with floating platforms and ruined buildings — dramatic, high-speed boss fights finish with the above scene. It’s far from a perfect game, but chasing down those moments of pure aesthetic elation are reason enough to keep playing Solar Ash.
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S572022's Greatest Surprise TV Hit Has Become 2023's Biggest Disappointment  It premiered on HBO Max in March 2022 as a historical pirate comedy starring Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate, as he clashes with the infamous pirate Blackbeard, aka Edward Teach (Taika Waititi). But as the series progressed, creator David Jenkins’ original plan became clear: Our Flag Means Death transformed from an absurd workplace comedy with a crew of fun characters into a touching romance between two pirates. It was a surprising twist: in a world of queerbaiting shows, it was rare to see one have the courage to actually make the romance happen.In Season 2 of the series, premiering October 5 on Max, Jenkins no longer has the bait-and-switch surprise of the original series. Instead, this season has one motto: give the people what they want. But what the people want doesn’t necessarily make for the best story.
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S58Mercedes-Benz Just One-Upped Tesla in Its Quest for Full Self-Driving  Tesla is the biggest name in self-driving cars, but right now it may not be leading the pack. Mercedes-Benz announced the pricing and availability of its Drive Pilot system that will debut later this year. The German automaker says its SAE Level 3 system will hit the streets of California and Nevada through a limited fleet of EQS sedans.Mercedes-Benz says it’s the first automotive manufacturer in the world to bring a Level 3 system into a production vehicle in the U.S.
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S59The Goriest Movie Franchise of the Century Just Made a Brilliant Pivot  The best thing the Saw franchise could do is step away from its tangled present-day continuity. Thankfully, this is what Saw X does. Saw VI and Saw 3D director Kevin Greutert returns to helm the tenth bloodthirsty entry, which is a direct sequel to James Wan's original (it's Saw 1.5 if we're being literal). The rare Saw film that heavily focuses on Tobin Bell's iconic Jigsaw, Saw X borrows a page from Don't Breathe 2 by making Jigsaw the "hero" — a trick they end up executing cleanly enough to make this one of the better Saw movies in Lionsgate’s hit-or-miss gore-a-torium franchise.Penned by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger in their third straight Saw entry, Saw X tells the tale of John Kramer's border-crossing Mexican visit in search of a miracle cure for his brain cancer. He reaches out to Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), the daughter of a renowned physician who promises his patented combination of drug cocktail and surgery can cure any fatal diagnosis. John boards a plane, forks over an exorbitant amount, and goes under the knife — only to find out it's all a scam. Unfortunately, Cecilia defrauded the wrong moralistic civil engineer with a penchant for testing corrupt individuals with either salvation-providing or death-dealing contraptions.
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S609 Years Later, A Divisive Director Finally Gets Back to His Spy Thriller Roots  Director Matthew Vaughn is all but synonymous with the punchy, stylized, and oft-irreverent espionage thrillers of the 2010s. For all his success with the genre, though, he’s certainly had just as many misses. Kingsman: The Secret Service was fantastic; its sequel, The Golden Circle, and WWI-era prequel, The King’s Man, however, were something else entirely (bad). Vaughn might be at his best when he sticks close to his source material. That’s what made the first Kingsman such a hit, and the same could be said for Stardust and Kick-Ass. His latest film, Argylle, seems to be following that model: it’s based on a yet-to-be-released novel by an elusive first-time novelist, Elly Conway. And based on its trailer, it’s shaping up to be a promising return to form for Vaughn.
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S61This Folding Racing Sim Chair May Actually Fit In Your Tiny Apartment  Racing simulators are great, but they’re not always the easiest setups to keep around if you’re pressed for space. If you’re in team tiny living space, Logitech is here to make sure you get the best of both worlds with its foldable racing chair called the Playseat Challenge X. The Playseat Challenge X isn’t as advanced as other racing sim cockpits, but the convenience of it is a huge selling point. Since it folds up when not in use, you no longer have to carve out a space for your racing sim setup. Logitech’s collab with Playseat builds on the brand’s own folding cockpit but adds some key upgrades. Considering that fully-fledged racing sim setups can go for thousands, the Playseat Challenge X feels like a good mix of functionality, flexibility, and affordability.
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S62'Resident Evil' on iOS Has the Potential to Drastically Change How We Game  In the age of the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, gaming on the go is more popular than ever. But the one thing these modern handhelds lack is true appeal to the masses, it isn’t fun to lug around a Steam Deck on the subway to play 45 minutes of Elden Ring. The Switch may be one of the bestselling consoles of all time, but it still isn’t as ubiquitous as having an iPhone in your pocket.And while gaming on a smartphone can let you run your dailies in Honkai: Star Rail, many people are likely sticking to Candy Crush. But after spending 30 minutes with Resident Evil Village on an iPad Pro, Apple’s ambitious vision for gaming on the go has the potential to finally bridge the gap between hardcore and mobile gaming.
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S63Marvel May Have Quietly Killed Its Most Intriguing New Show  It’s been three years since the beginning of the MCU TV universe. In the time of Secret Invasion and Loki Season 2, it can be hard to remember how truly revolutionary those first few shows were. WandaVision shook the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe with its use of the television medium, essentially blazing a trail into the medium while simultaneously deconstructing it. It was no surprise when a number of spinoffs were reported to be in development later: Agatha: Darkhold Diaries (previously called Agatha: House of Harkness and Agatha: Coven of Chaos) was reported by Variety to be in development in October 2021.
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S64Did James Gunn Just Remove a Beloved Actor From the DCU?  Despite ambitious new plans for a cohesive universe, the future of the DCU feels more confusing than ever before. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will bring the final chapter of the DCEU to a close, but fans are still wondering how (or if) the old continuity will inform James Gunn and DC co-chair Peter Safran’s new universe. Gunn has worked to clear the air wherever possible — and with the limitations of the WGA strike lifting, the writer-director is free to answer fans’ burning questions about the DCU. That includes a months-old query on Threads, which asked Gunn to explain when the new canon officially begins. “Nothing is canon until Creature Commandos next year — a sort of aperitif to the DCU,” Gunn explained. That said, the new canon won’t exactly be starting from the ground up: “Some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories, and some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows, and animated projects that have come from DC in the past.”
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S65Everything You Need to Know to Dive Into 'Counter-Strike 2' and Get Top Frag  Nothing could have been more surprising than Valve’s sudden announcement of Counter-Strike 2 in March 2023 — except its out-of-nowhere release in late September. With hardly a word from Valve since the initial reveal, Counter-Strike 2 is now out for PC. And while players are predictably excited to dive into the sequel to one of the best multiplayer shooters of all time, its launch has come with the usual hurdles that fans of online games have come to expect.If you’re eager to jump into Counter-Strike 2 with minimal friction, here are some tips to make your entry as smooth as possible.
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S66'Dragon's Dogma 2' Gives Capcom's Cult RPG a Second Chance  Despite strong sales and widespread critical acclaim upon the game’s release in 2012, Dragon’s Dogma is largely considered one of the most underappreciated RPGs ever made. While many (including myself) have never played Capcom’s open-world fantasy epic, it feels like you can hardly escape the title nowadays as the cult hit has had something of a renaissance thanks in no small part to longtime fans shouting its praises any chance they get. All that shouting eventually reached Capcom, leading to a reveal in June 2022 that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is in development. After giving fans a new look at the sequel during Tokyo Game Show 2023, Capcom gave me the chance to spend an hour exploring the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2. Even with no first-hand experience of the original, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is clearly a refined iteration of its predecessor. Capcom hopes to give returning fans exactly what they want, while also living up to the expectations new fans have been given thanks to a decade of accumulated praise for the first game.
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S67How to Find the Most Elusive Thing in 'Starfield'  Finding Percival for the Delivering Devils quest trips up a lot of Starfield players. Here's how to find the missing scientist.What’s the hardest thing to find in the galaxy of Starfield? According to some players, it just might be a man named Percival. Partway through Delivering Devils, a side quest you can complete for the UC Vanguard, you’ll be asked to find Dr. Percival Walker. Mostly due to Starfield’s lack of a good map, lots of players are having a hard time tracking down Percival when it comes time to do so.
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S68What Happens After 'The Creator's Ending is "Up for Grabs," Director Says  Gareth Edwards had a vision for the ending of The Creator from the very beginning — literally. Back when the visually astonishing sci-fi blockbuster was first called True Love, Edwards had an idea of the film ending with his hero Joshua (John David Washington) “being reunited with his wife in heaven.” The Creator tells the story of a battle between humans and AI, with the AI simulants fleeing to “New Asia” from their American oppressors. The only hope of ending this bloody conflict lies in a new AI creation, Alfie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), a simulant child with the ability to shut down any technology with her mind. But as her abilities are still growing, it becomes the task of Joshua, who was originally sent by U.S. forces to murder her, to escort her to her destination: NOMAD.
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S7010 Years Ago, 'Breaking Bad' Delivered One of the Greatest Finales Ever -- And Marked the End of an Era  Walter White’s journey changed him — and television — forever. In Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, whom America knew as Hal Wilkerson from Malcolm in the Middle, the New Mexico chemistry teacher turned meth manufacturer with such a steely demeanor it ushered in a new wave of “anti-hero” television pioneered by The Sopranos. With its brilliant conclusion, Breaking Bad brought about the end of the anti-hero era. Its ending seemed to be built into the beginning: Walt was dying of cancer, and needed to make enough money to secure his family’s future before he died. But in Felina, the series finale that aired 10 years ago today, we see Walt go full circle and remove the mask he’s been wearing for the entire series slip.
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